Forgotten Faces
by MachUPB
Summary: What if when Gaster entered the void, HE lost his memories of himself too? And what if he wasn't alone? Join W D Gaster as he rediscovers himself and read of his journey to escape the void, along with his new companion. (Rated T because of paranoia.) (Cover image was made by me.)
1. Falling

_I watch the metal walkway above get smaller and smaller, the light of the core around me getting brighter and brighter, until…_

 _Nothing. I suppose I should feel pain, or at the very least in some way uncomfortable, but I feel nothing. It's like my senses have been dulled to the point of malfunction. I try to collect my thoughts as to what's happening; shouldn't I have been dusted? Even if there wasn't magma in the channels running through the CORE, the distance of the fall should have been enough. What could have possibly caused me to end up… alive? Is that even the right term for being… wherever I am? My mind is whirring exceedingly fast in an attempt to comprehend everything._

"Gah!" I gasp in shock as I abruptly come back to the present. A pale frown looms over me, perhaps a centimetre from my own. I jolt back in surprise, stumbling backwards and falling over. I briefly take note of the never-ending darkness that makes up almost everything in site. The face above me looks down in concern.

Once I have my wits about me, I take in who this figure is. They look like a child in their mid-teens, looking for the most part to be a human. They have wavy inky-black hair that is barely distinguishable in the blackness around us that falls to partially cover their eyes, which are bottomless pits with white pupils floating inside, identical to a skeleton's sockets. Their skin is consistently pale, almost a milky-white, and their lips match in colour. Two of their canines stick out, similar to the king and queen's fangs. They're wearing a plain black hoodie (the hood down) with no special features to it, besides being a tad bit oversized, and their hands are in their pockets. Underneath the hoodie is a white T-shirt with a black printed message on it so faded as to be illegible. They also wear grey trousers with an exceptional amount of pockets on them.

"I'm sorry." The child's voice is filled with understanding, of what I don't know.

I reply curiously, "Whatever for?"

"How you ended up here, it wasn't a very good experience."

"Ah, yes. Speaking of which, where is… here?"

"This is the void, the place between time and space. Anything and everything that resides here doesn't exist to the universe."

"Are you saying that we don't exist?" My voice sounds completely calm, despite the overwhelming anxiety inside of me.

"Precisely that." I stare unseeingly at the child while I try to comprehend this new information. _I… don't exist? What about my family? How are they going to live without someone to provide for them? Do they remember me?_ After a moment, a terrible realisation comes over me in the form of a question: _do I remember them?_ I rack my mind for information on my previous life, but all I find are simple facts: I was a skeleton who, like all the other monsters, was trapped in the Underground. We lived under the reign of a king and queen. I had a family, skeletons like me. But try as I may, I couldn't summon an image of them.

A comforting hand is placed on my back and I'm brought back to reality. I'm on my knees, curled in on myself. I slowly sit upright; the child is standing beside me, hand on my back rubbing in relieving circles. They look me in the eyes, their face full of worry and fear. Their voice quavers slightly as they speak, "I know this is a silly question, but are you okay?" Its in this moment I have to choose whether to trust the child or hide my feelings from them. I don't know who this child is, or even _what_ they are, but they seem to know about me, enough to understand me anyway. At this stage, though, there isn't really a point in trying to deceive them, especially after that breakdown. They're in the same situation as me, stuck in the void. Plus, I'm not really in the state to deny help. My mind is made, and I answer them, "No, not really."

"I thought so. Again, I'm sorry that you ended up here, Gaster."

"Gaster?" The name rings with familiarity.

"That's your name, W D Gaster. Mine is Myst. Myst E Rious."

I can't help but chuckle at the pun. "Heh, that can't be your real name."

They smile warmly at me, "Yeah, but it's my name now."

"Alright, _Myst_ , why don't you show me around?"


	2. Laughing

"So, this is where I live." Myst gestures to the grey room we now stand in. There's nothing in it besides us, a fact I find rather curious. I ask them, "Why is it empty? Don't you at least have a bed to sleep on?"

They reply, "Here in the void we can make practically anything that's inanimate appear by manipulating matter." To show me what they mean, they close their eyes briefly. A grey beanbag materialises behind them and they flop back onto it. "To do that, all you need to do is focus your will and your imagination on making the object appear. It takes some time to master, though"

I ask them curiously, "How did you learn this?"

They smile at me, "It took me a while, but I figured it out. I spent a lot of time practising until I could create basically anything with minimal effort. Though I had a lot of time to put into it." They sigh, their smile faltering a bit. I give them a questioning look and they look down, breaking our eye contact as the last of their grin fades away. "There isn't really that much to do around here," they explain with a heavy sigh.

 _How long has this child been here for them to commit so much time to this? From what they've made out this is quite time-consuming, so how much longer have they been here than me?_ Concern grows inside me for this child I've only just met, though I restrain myself from asking the questions forming in my head.

I try to brighten Myst's mood by telling them a joke. I step back to the grey panelled door we came through, now closed, and rap my boney hand sharply on it whilst saying, "Knock knock."

They look at me in confusion, already giggling a bit. "Who's there?" Myst replies.

"Spell."

"Spell who?"

"W – H – O." Realisation dawns on their face and they burst out in laughter. I chuckle lightly along with them, glad to have cheered them up. "That was horrible!" they manage to convey through their glee.

"Are you sure?" I tease. "Your laughter tells a very different story." At that they just laugh even harder. We continue on like this for a while until eventually calming down. "I have to agree with your earlier point; that was pretty bad."

They smile at me, almost glowing with their happiness. "You bet it was. Thanks for doing that though."

I feign innocence, "Whatever do you mean?"

They giggle lightly, "You know exactly what I mean. I needed that."

"Well, you're welcome then."

Satisfied that I've succeeded in my task, I decide to move onto another: void matter manipulation. I ask Myst, "What do you suggest a beginner tries to form first?"

They ponder this for a while. "Something simple. Easy to picture and made of mostly the same matter. Like… a candle."

"Okay. So I just concentrate on a candle?"

"Yeah, but you also have to focus on making it appear. That's a very important detail, because if you don't, nothing will happen." Keeping this tip in mind, I try to visualise a plain candle in front of me. Everything in the room (basically Myst and their beanbag) fades from my focus as I imagine its wax body taking shape. In my mind I see it rising as a small column from the ground. The candle's wick burrows its way out of the centre, leaving a brand-new tall and slender candle sitting on the floor. When my focus is back on reality, I see that there is in fact a grey candle on the ground. The difference is that this one has a blackened wick and is bent over crazily to the side, like a curved yellow fruit… the name has escaped my mind.

"Wow, great job!" Myst says enthusiastically. When I don't respond they explain their enthusiasm. "I wasn't expecting you to be able to form anything on your first try." _Well, that definitely highlights how difficult it must be if they didn't expect ANYTHING on a first try._ Still disappointed that the candle didn't turn out how I thought it would, I sigh heavily and lean back against the wall with my arms folded. "Well, I guess I have to return the favour."

"What do you mean?" I ask them.

"What is heavy forward but not backward?" I ponder this for a while, wondering how this is supposed to make sense. It dawns on me that this is probably a joke. "I don't know," I reply.

"Ton." The moment they tell me the answer my mood lightens a bit. I let out a small chuckle at their joke, causing them to smile in return.

Suddenly I see an opportunity for something familiar. I say with a wide grin on my face, "Don't you mean a SKELEton?" We both crack up at the pun. In the back of my mind something about the pun is nagging me, but I push it away for now, not wanting to cease the good mood. _It's probably not important, I can come back to it later._

* * *

 **A/N: Hello to all! First of all I wanna thank you for reading _Forgotten Faces_ (presumably, or perhaps you decided to scroll to the bottom of the chapter without reading). It means a lot to me knowing that people are taking time out of their day to read my story. Second of all, I'd like to thank  UngroundableDaywalker, FoilyPaper, and Curalee for reviewing. I really appreciate the support. And finally, I'd like to say that I am horrible at coming up with original jokes, and the ones I do come up with aren't really that funny to anyone but me. So the jokes used in this chaptet are from Jokes4us. To find the site, just search 'jokes4us' on Google. It should be the first site. By the way, they do have dirty jokes on there apparently (I haven't checked them out and doubt I ever will) so yeah, warning about that. I will not be using those sorts of jokes in _Forgotten Faces_. I hope you're all enjoying the story. :)**


	3. Familiarity

It's been a while since my first attempt at forming a candle, yet I can't help but ponder about the events from just before that. Just who exactly is this child, or what? They seem mostly human, but some features just aren't… right. I gaze over at Myst and see them lost in their own thoughts, still sitting in the beanbag. Their long hair suggests from gender convention that they're female, yet they have no other outwardly feminine qualities from my understanding of human biology (where this understanding is from I have no clue); nor do they have any masculine qualities showing. And conventions can't really be trusted for cases like this, so that leaves their gender undetermined. I snicker quietly to myself, unsure of why.

As for their other… features… Myst seems to be partially skeleton, in regards to their eye sockets, and partially like the king and queen, in regards to their large canines. How is that even possible? It would make some sense if they only displayed the likes of one kind of monster but with two kinds that I can see in their human form it makes no sense.

I'm still curious about the teen yet I delve no further, deciding not to interrupt their train of thought. It turns out that this is an unnecessary decision, as they come out of their daze at this moment and see me looking at them. They ask me politely, "Oh, did you want me for something?"

I stare blankly at them for a moment, not quite processing that I'd been caught studying them, before I answer, "No, I'm fine thanks. I was just..." I trail off mid-sentence, unable to think of a plausible excuse.

"Well, if you need me for anything don't hesitate to ask," they respond before returning to their thoughts.

* * *

"Hey, you're getting better!" Myst exclaims upon seeing my fiftieth attempt at creating a candle. It's a replica of the one in my mind, except it's half the size. I sigh in frustration and resignation at the virtual impossibility of my task. It seems that I'm not used to failing, though I wouldn't know for sure given my current amnesia.

They look at me knowingly, "Why don't you take a break, I can see you won't make any more progress with that state of mind." They proceed to hesitate, as though in deep thought about what they're about to do. I lean forward slightly, their irresolution catching my interest. "…I'd like to show you something." Before I can respond they thrust their hand, which I discover is bearing a white glove made of a rough fabric, into mine. They lead me to the monochrome door, the only exit to the room. I raise my theoretical eyebrow questioningly. They reach for the knob with their other gloved hand, fingers lingering in the space before it, then finally grasp onto it. I want to say something, but I don't want to cause them any more uncertainty.

They slowly twist the doorknob, then gradually pull the door open. To be quite honest, the suspense is killing me. Once the door is open enough for me to see beyond it, I don't see the empty dark void I was expecting. Instead, I see a cool rocky passageway with crystals exposed in the wall here and there.

I gape at my surroundings, complete and utter speechlessness coming over me. _This... this seems so familiar..._ After what feels like an eternity, I haul my eyes away from the glistening cavern and down to Myst. They're watching me carefully, still holding my hand. They smile when they notice me looking at them. "This is Waterfall," they say. _Waterfall..._ My soul resonates with recognition at the name.

I struggle to speak properly, "How... how are we..."

"Here?" I nod. "Well, uh, I can use this door to... observe the timelines." Myst nervously glances between me and the ground while they speak. They're clearly uncomfortable talking about this. They finally settle on looking at the floor. "I didn't tell you earlier because I was afraid you'd get... sucked in," they elucidate. "I don't mean _literally_ , but more like... I didn't want you to become obsessed. I... don't want you to make the same mistake I did." I desperately want to question them on this, but I know that isn't the right thing to do right now. _Maybe later._

Myst slaps a smile on their face and announces, "Well, enough of that. I'm sure you want to have a look around, so why don't we go on ahead and do that?" Their voice, though cheery sounding, still has a hint of sorrow in it. I give my friend a concerned look but heed their attempt to change the subject and attempt a smile for them. "Sure, sounds great."

"Great!" they repeat. They proceed to tighten their grip on my hand, which they haven't stopped holding, and drag me off along the passageway.

* * *

"And now we're going to head to the Ruins." Myst has been giving me a tour of the 'Underground', the place I used to exist in. Everything is so... familiar, for a lack a better word to describe it. We're currently walking through the forest past Snowdin, heading up to some strange gateway that seems too large to block anyone's path. "Someone made this to block the path of humans but they made the bars too wide," Myst explains. "Now, what was their name again? Something starting with a P, I'm sure..." We continue walking as Myst ponders about the name of this unidentified monster who lacks knowledge in humans. We approach a large door, which seems to be the end of the snowy path. Abruptly, I stop. There's someone at the door.

The monster is sitting down and leaning against the door, wearing a blue hoodie, black shorts, and pink slippers. All of a sudden I'm overwhelmed with various sensations at once. I can feel my soul throbbing with a medley of emotions, so many that I can't identify any of them. I start to feel light-headed and my vision is darkening at the edges. Slowly, I sink down to my knees. I notice Myst in the corner of my vision, although I can't see them very clearly as everything becomes obscure before the darkness closes in and I can see no more.

* * *

 **A/N: Before you comment, all will be explained next chapter. For now, things will just have to make no sense.**

 **Thanks to** **echommm** **(Ch.1 review I haven't acknowledged yet),** **Curalee** **,** **FoilyPaper** **,** **Marked Jewel** **, and** **Naruby7** **for reviewing.**

 **Sooo... I have nothing else to say, except that I hope to see you all back in the next chapter. :)**


	4. Encounter

_-3rd Person View-_

A skeleton wearing a blue hoodie wipes a tear from his socket as he calms down from his fit of laughter. _That was a good one,_ he thinks. He's about to respond to his joke buddy when he notices a kid (maybe a teen?) bent over a figure lying on the snowy ground. They're shaking the figure's shoulders desperately, shouting. "Wake up!" they yell. "Please, wake up!"

"Hey, I'll catch up with you tomorrow," he says to the lady behind the door.

She replies, "Oh, okay. I look forward to then. You know how much I aDOOR your visits!" He lets out a warm chuckle and approaches the kid and the figure they're with.

"Heya, kiddo," the skeleton greets the youth. "What's the trouble here?" They freeze, falling silent and visibly tensing up. Slowly, they turn around to face the grinning monster, disbelief written all over their face. Thoughts of incredulity run rampant in the child's head. _Is he... yes, he is! He's talking to me! How is this even possible?!_ Meanwhile, the monster is feeling similar emotions. _What... a human... and they're mixed with one, no, at least two monsters? How is this even possible?!_

The two struggle to overcome their thoughts and remember the situation at hand. The skeleton recovers first, shaking his head to clear it. He says, "TIBIA honest, I couldn't help but notice you were, uh, in a bit of a predicament." The youth nods, seemingly unable to speak yet. After a moment, they seem to have finished processing everything and a short, sharp laugh escapes them. The monster's grin grows at this.

"...My friend passed out inexplicably," the kid explains. He peers past them to get a good look at their friend. His eyes widen at what he sees: their friend is also a skeleton, with a reasonably large crack running from his right eye upwards and one from his left eye downwards. The smiling skeleton is filled with an overwhelming sense of... familiarity. He puts this aside for the moment and goes to put a hand reassuringly on the child's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We can figure this... out?" The skeleton is thrown off by his hand phasing through them. The child seems unsurprised at this. They mutter to themselves, "Well, this will be hard to explain."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey. Here's a short chapter, just so you know I'm alive. Explanations... are still coming. Also, from now on I'll respond to most if not all reviews in here.**

 ** _Curalee_** ** _: Things are moving forward, I like where this is going. You do a good job of showing that Gaster is inquisitive and that despite not remembering himself, parts of his personality show through._**  
 _ **May you always find inspiration.**_

 **Thanks a lot! I try to hint at Gaster's past here and there, despite not even sure myself what the details are. Such as his relationship with Sans... that'll be important when it's revealed/decided. Father and son? Brothers? Friends and/or colleagues? Such is still... MYSTERIOUS. Heh.**

 _ **FoilyPaper**_ _ **:**_ _ **Very nice, you are getting better!**_

 **Thanks for the support. :D**

 **Anyways, that's all for now. Please give me feedback (or continue to) so I can continue to improve my story. :D**


	5. Connections

I wake with a start, jumping straight up onto my feet only to fall over from a bout of dizziness. "Whoa, take it easy, G," says a new, low voice. I wait a moment for the dark spots to leave my vision and sit up slowly, clutching my head. My mind is spinning and I find it difficult to form coherent thoughts. The deep voice speaks again, "So, uh, your buddy was just explaining to some things to me. They left a minute or two ago to do... something." I look at the new figure and find my sockets fixed on another pair. _Another skeleton? This can't be coincidence..._

"Anyway, I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." I chuckle at this, which seems to brighten his grin.

"Hello, Sans," I greet him. "I'm... ah..." _What was my name again?_

"W D Gaster. The kiddo told me already."

"Ah... yes." I sit there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Sans, who was previously standing, sits down next to me.

After a while, Myst comes running along the path. They look excited. When they reach us, they begin their explanation. "The reason Sans can see us is you, Gaster."

"...It is?" I reply.

"Yes. You must have had some close connection with Sans before you ceased to exist."

"Wait," Sans says. "'Ceased to exist'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"We don't exist, Sans," Myst says quite calmly. "That is why your hand went through me before."

"Oh, okay." We fall silent, none of us really knowing what to say.

A minute or so later a far off cry of "SANS!" can be heard. Sans gets up, stating, "Welp, that's my bro. I gotta go." He looks at us both before heading off, saying, "See ya." After he disappears from sight, Myst and I look at each other. "I think we've done enough exploring for now," Myst suggests. "We should head back to the void." They lend me a hand to get up and we head off towards the grey door in Waterfall.

* * *

Bonus content:

I stand in the middle of the grey room, deciding to try creating an armchair to relax on. Myst has gone out to investigate the rumour of a human in the Underground. The door creaks open. _Well, that didn't take... long..._

The human. They're here. In the room. I stand stiffly, watching as they look around the room. Finally, their eyes land on me. _Oh no._ They walk intently towards me. _Please, no!_ They stop right in front of me. _PLEASE GO AWAY SMALL CHILD!_ They poke me. I gasp, my sockets widening, and I disappear.

 _Later..._

"Gaster?" Myst calls out. They scan the room, not seeing any sign of me. Until they look up. On the somewhat high ceiling, they see me clinging to a wonky mess of metal that I created in my panic. "...What are you doing up there?" they question.

"...I've found that I do not like small human children."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey all! It's been a while.**

 **So this is my sketchy explanation chapter, plus bonus content! While the bonus content won't actually happen in this storyline, it's fun to see Gaster freak out like that. :3**

 **Reviews!**

 ** _SquareRootOf-1_** ** _:_** ** _Nice! This looks like it's going in an interesting direction. I'm looking forward to seeing Sans's reaction when he realizes. Lol._**

 **Thanks! Sans, upon finding out about Myst and Gaster's non-existence, was kinda too shocked to say anything more that what he did. He had HEAPS of questions flying around in his head but wasn't really up to asking any of them.**

 ** _Heeeeeyy_** ** _: You're pretty good at this. Sans is in character(tho he hasn't said much) and your OC is neato so far! Mainly gonna focus on Gaster in this._**  
 ** _Kay, so most a the fanfics I've read have Gaster as either cold hearted creator of the skelebros, loving father\older bro, weird god-like person somehow related to the skelebros, or this really freakishly weird... Thing. I personally prefer the "Mercy" Gaster for handplates(READ THE COMICS IT'LL ALL MAKE SENSE ZARLA ON DEVIANT ART SERIOUSLY THEY'RE FANTABULOUS); most of the dadster ones are a little cheesy, personally. Anyhoo, gotta sleep. Lol_**  
 ** _-Exhausted reader who happened upon this fledging artwork and decided to bookmark the page_**

 **Handplates is DEFINITELY fantabulous. I'm still deciding on Gaster's relationship with the skelebros, but I think I've narrowed it down to father or older brother. I'm glad you like this, anyway.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


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